Türkiye detains lawyer for opposition leader Imamoglu amid protest crackdown

ANKARA: Turkish authorities detained a lawyer for President Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest political rival, jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, an MP of the main opposition party, CHP, said on Friday (Mar 28).

Imamoglu, a CHP member who leads Erdogan in some polls, was jailed on Sunday pending trial for graft, provoking the largest anti-government protests in a decade, which led in turn to mass arrests nationwide.

Mehmet Pehlivan, a lawyer who defended Imamoglu in the latest investigation, was detained “for fabricated reasons”, CHP MP Turan Taskin Ozer said in a post on X, without giving details.

Imamoglu, who has since been released, has been temporarily dismissed from his job because of the case, demanded the immediate release of his lawyer.

“As if the coup on democracy wasn’t enough, they can’t stand the victims of this coup defending themselves,” Imamoglu said on X.